Lock Up - Demonization album review

All-star terrors keep grinding their own business

Standard bearers for precision, power and dexterity, this amorphous supergroup have never delivered less than total devastation, but the loss of vocalist Tomas Lindberg in 2014 suggested that either renewal or retreat were in order. Enter Brutal Truth’s Kevin Sharp: one of our most idiosyncratic bellowers and the weapon behind Demonization’s startling efficacy. His pointedly gruff and crusty roar provides an eccentric focal point throughout. Of course, the essential Lock Up trademarks are here – Nick Barker’s insanely vicious drumming, Shane Embury’s arse-flaying distorto-bass and Anton Reisenegger’s remorseless arsenal of razorwire riffs – but beneath the surface, a lust for invention makes this much more than just another lesson in topspeed violence. From the title track’s unearthly doom to the flashes of blackened dissonance that pepper Locust and more, Demonization is a bravura display of merciless extremity with balls and brains.